Press.



J. C. THOMAS.

PRESS. APPLICATION FILED JAN-3.1914. RENEWED MAR. 19,1915.

Patented Nov. 21, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

J. c. THOMAS.

PRESS.- APPLICATION FILED JAN, 3. 1914. RENEWED MAR. 19. 1915.

Patented Nov. 21-, 1916.

2 sHEETs-sHEET 2.

entrain sr Tns PATENT curios.

JAMES CAMPBELL THOMAS, OTTUMWA, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO DAIN MANUFACTURINGCOMPANY OF IOWA, OF OTTUMWA, IOWA, A CORPORATION OF IOWA.

PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1916.

Application filed January 3, 1914, Serial No. 810,224. Renewed March 19,1915. Serial No. 15,651.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES CAMPBELL THOMAS, asubject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Ottumwa, in the countyof tVapello and State of Iowa, have in-' vented certain new and usefulImprovements in Presses, of which the following .is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to presses such as those used for baling hay andanalogous purposes, and has particularly to do with hay presses of thetype shown and described in the application for patent of Joseph Dain,filed September 20, 1912, Serial No. 721,354, in which the plunger bywhich the hay is compressed vis operated by an eccentrically-mountedgear or gears rotated by means of pinions which are driven from asuitable source of power, such as a ga'solene engine, the engine beingpreferably mounted on the carriage of the press, but which may alsoemploy any other suitable source of power. In such presses, owing to theeccentric mounting of the drive gear or gears, it is necessary that thepinion or pinions which drive such gears move toward and from the axisof rotation of said gears so that they may constantly mesh therewith,and the object of my present invention is to provide improved means formounting such pinion or pinions and connecting them with the source ofpower so that they will be driven constantly and will be maintained inmesh with the eccentric gear or gears. I accomplish this object asillustrated in the drawings and as hereinafter described. That which Ibelieve to be new is set forth in the claims. I

In the accompanying drawings,-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a haypress embodying my improvements; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, theengine being removed; Fig. 3 is a detail, being a side elevation of oneof the eccentric gears and the driving connections therefor; Fig. 4 isan enlarged view, partly in section, illustrating the connections bywhich one of the pinions is held in mesh with its eccentric gear; andFig. 5 is a side elevation of the parts'shown in Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings,-11 indicate upper and lowerlongitudinally-extending angle'bars, which form the principal parts ofthe frame of the press, the forward end portions 12 of the upper bars lObeing bent downwardly and connected with the lower bars by any suitablemeans, as shown in Fig. 1. Vertical bracing bars 13 are providedadjacent the forward ends of the bars 10 and connect said bars with thebars 11 so as to hold the forward end portions of the frame rigidly inspaced relation. These bars 10ll are parallel throughout their lengthand carry plates which form the side walls 14 of thebaling-chamber.Upper and lower cross-bars 1516 are placed adjacent to the rear ends ofthe bars 1011 and are connected by adjusting-rods 16 in the usual way soas to regulate the tension on the bale.

l718 indicate upper and lower plates carried by the bars 1011,respectively, to form a bottom for the bailing-chamber, and also a coverfor that portion of the frame which carries the finished bales. It is obvious that the lower plate 18 extends to the rear ends of the lowerbarsll'. As illustrated, the frame of the press is mounted on wheels 19and 22 in the usual way.

indicates a motor, preferably a gasolene engine, which, in theconstruction shown, is mounted upon the forward end portion of the frameof the press.

44 indicates a transverse shaft mounted at the forward end portion ofthe press frame, said shaft carrying pulleys 43 at the oppositesides ofthe press, which pulleys, in the construction shown, are adapted to bedriven by belts 42 from pulleys 32 carried by the engine. The shaft 44is also provided centrally with a pulley 43 to permit of the rotation ofsaid shaft by a belt leading from a motor not carried by the pressframe, when it is desired to operate the press in that way.

46 indicates gears mounted on and keyed to the shaft 44 for transmittingpower from the shaft 44 in the manner hereinafter described. V

48 indicates a transverse shaft which is supported in suitable bearingscarried by swinging links 4949 mounted on the shaft 44, so that theshaft 48 is held in parallelism with the shaft 44 by said links but isfree to swing concentrically therewith.

47 indicates gears, which are mounted on the, shaft 48 and mesh with thegears 46 so as to be driven thereby.

57 indicates circular gears, which are ec centrically mounted uponstub-axles 56 suitably journaled in the frame of the press, as

best shown in Figs. 1 and 3. Preferably, said axles are mounted inblocks 59, which are fixedly secured to the upper and lower bars 1011 ofthe press so that they are held firmly in position.

58 indicates pinions mounted on the shafts 48 and meshing with the gears57, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

50 indicates straps, which are pivoted concentrically with the gears 57and are connected with the shaft 48 so as to hold the pinions 58constantly in mesh with the gears 57 notwithstanding the eccentricmounting of the latter gears. It will be apparent that by thisconstruction the shaft 48 will swing through an arc of which the straps50 are radii, and that at the same time the gears 47 will be held inmesh with the gears 48 and the pinions 48 will be heldin mesh with thegears 57. Consequently, by rotating the main drive-shaft 44, the gears57 may be constantly driven.

77 indicates the plunger by which the hay is compressed, said plungerbeing connected eccentrically with the gears 57, near the peripheriesthereof, and at the points nearest the axles of said eccentric gears. Asthe pinions 58 by which the eccentric gears 57 are driven aresubstantially at the opposite sides of the axis of rotation of saideccentric gears from the pivotal connections of the plunger therewith,it will be apparent that the leverage of the drive pinions 58 upon theeccentric gears 57 will gradually increase as the plunger approaches theend of its compression stroke, while thespeed of the plunger willgradually increase as it recedes from the point of greatest compressionuntil it again begins its compression stroke. Thus the plunger isoperated more quickly but with less power on the return stroke and withthe greatest power and at slower speed on its compression stroke.

71 indicates a feeder-arm, which is pivotally mounted on a base 61carried bystandards 62 secured to the upper bars 10. The feeder-arm 71is provided with a head by which the hay is fed into the baling-chamherin the usual way, said feeder-arm being operated by links 76 whichconnect its forward end with the gears 57 at the same points at whichthe plunger 77 is connected with said gears. By this construction thefeeding mechanism is operated so as to feed hay to the baling-chamber onthe return stroke of the plunger and is raised out of operative positionon the compression stroke thereof.

That which I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

1. In a press of the characterdescribed, a frame including a pressingchamber, a driven shaft rotatably connected with said frame, gear-wheelsrigidly secured to said driven shaft, eccentric gear-wheels rotatablyconnected with said frame, a hanging shaft positioned beneath saidframe, supporting links loosely connected with said hanging shaft andwith. said driven shaft, a second set of supporting links looselyconnected with said hanging shaft and eccentrically connected with saideccentric gear-wheels whereby rotation of said eccentric gearwheels willcause vertical movement of said hanging shaft, gear-wheels rigidlysecured to said hanging shaft and meshing with the gear-wheels of saiddriven shaft, gear-wheels rigidly secured to said hangingshaft andmeshing with said eccentric gear-wheel, vertical movement of saidhanging shaft keeping said gear-wheels at all times in mesh, a plungeroperated by said eccentric gear-wheels and moving in said compressingchamber, and a feeding plunger operated by said eccentric gear-wheelsfor feeding material into said compressing chamber.

2. A press of the'character described comprising a frame including apressing chamber, eccentric gear-wheels rotatably supported by saidframe, a driven shaft rotatably supported by said frame, gear-wheelscarried by said'driven shaft, a hanging shaft, gear-wheels carried bysaid hanging shaft and meshing with said eccentric gear-wheels and withthe gear-wheels of said driven shaft, means for supporting said hangingshaft and operated by said eccentric gearwheels to keep said gear-wheelsat all times in mesh during their rotation, feeding means operated bysaid eccentric gear-wheels, and compressing means operated by saideccentric gear-wheels.

3. A press of the character described, comprising a frame including apressing chamber, a driven shaft, gear-wheels carried by said drivenshaft, eccentric gear-wheels carried by said frame, bodily-movable meansfor transmitting rotary motion from the gear-wheels of said driven shaftto said eccentric gear-wheels, feeding means operated by said eccentricgear-wheels, and compress ing meansropera'ted by said eccentricgearwheels.

4. A press including a supporting frame, a driven shaft, operating meansincluding an eccentric gear-wheel, a gear-wheel carried by said drivenshaft, and bodily-movable means for transmitting rotary motion from thegear-wheel of said driven shaft to said eccentric gear-wheel.

. 5. A press including a supporting frame, a driven shaft, operatingmeans including an eccentric gear-wheel, a' gear-wheel carried by saiddriven shaft, a hanging shaft,

loosely-mounted means suspending said hanging shaft from said drivenshaft and eccentric gear-wheel, and means carried by said hanging shaftand meshing with the gear-wheel of said driven shaft and with saideccentric gear-wheel to permit rotary motion to be transmitted from thegearwheel of said driven shaft to said eccentric gear-wheel.

6. A press, comprising a plunger, an eccentric gear for actuating saidplunger, a pinion meshing with said gear, means for holding said pinionin mesh with said gear, a shaft, and means for driving said pinion fromsaid shaft.

7. A press, comprising a plunger, an eccentric gear for actuating saidplunger, a pinion meshing with said gear, means for holding said pinionin mesh with said gear, a shaft, means for holding said pinion at aconstant distance from the axis of said shaft, and means for drivingsaid pinion from said shaft.

8. A press, comprising a plunger, an eccentric gear for actuating saidplunger, a pinion meshing with said gear, means for holding said pinionin mesh with said gear, a shaft, swinging means for holding said pinionat a constant distance from the axis of said shaft meanwhile permittingit to swing concentrically therewith, and means for driving said pinionfrom said shaft.

9. A press, comprising a plunger, an eccentric gear for actuating saidplunger, a pinion meshing with said gear, a shaft, swinging membersarranged concentrically with said gear and shaft, respectively, for

positioning said pinion, and means for driving said pinion from saidshaft.

10. A press, comprising a plunger, an eccentric gear, a stationaryshaft, a pinion for driving said eccentric gear and movableconcentrically with relation to said shaft, and means for driving saidpinion from said shaft.

11. A press, comprising a plunger, an eccentric gear, a stationaryshaft, a pinion for driving said eccentric gear and movableconcentrically with relation to said shaft, means for holding the pinionin mesh with said eccentric gear, and means for driving said pinion fromsaid shaft.

12. A press, comprising a plunger, an eccentric gear for actuating saidplunger, a pinion meshing with said gear, a shaft on which said pinionis mounted, a link connecting said shaft concentrically with saideccentric gear, a stationary shaft, a swinging member connecting saidfirst-mentioned shaft with said stationary shaft, and means for drivingsaid first-mentioned shaft from said stationary shaft.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES CAMPBELL THOMAS. lVitnesses:

J ULIUS E. GoEHRINc,

CAREY M. ORMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Eatents, Washington, D. C.

